Hope
by DemonKittyAngel
Summary: Bakura looks through Ryou's homework and finds something a little darker than he thought could come from his light. Light Tendershipping.


Okay peeps, I know this is not what you're waiting for, but I did want to post something after so long. It's just a one shot and not very good but I think it captures the tone of the characters well as I see them.

This is also an old story and will have nothing more, so don't ask for a second. If someone would like to ask what some of the expanded thoughts on what's going on with Ryou and Bakura, you can drop me a review and I'll answer.

Bakura looked around his hikari's room. It was white and clean. Everything was exactly in its place. Disgusting. All the books shelved alphabetically by author, the bed made so neatly, and the desk with everything in its place. Bakura did a double take of the desk. What was this? Three sheets of paper just left out?

Ryou had gone to take a bath so he would be ready for that damn 'school' tomorrow. What a stupid idea; gathering a whole bunch of children together to 'learn'. Egypt had it right. Your parents taught you everything or you got apprenticed to a master at whatever craft you wanted. Bakura looked at the papers again and decided why not? He might be able to mess up his hikari's work. He kept telling Ryou that he didn't need to go to school and that it was a waste of time. But no, school was _important_ for Ryou. Bakura couldn't see why.

He sat down at the desk and looked at the paper on top. Apparently it was a 'homework' assignment. Homework was the stupidest thing of all. Ryou was already at school for _hours_ and even then they give him more stuff to do at home. It's like they think Ryou doesn't have other things to do. Like cook for Bakura, and make the house nice for Bakura, and provide entertainment for Bakura.

_Poem assessment:_

_Write a poem in any style you choose about hope. What makes you hopeful, what hope means to you, or what hope makes you think of._

_You will be graded on correct use of words, rhyme patterns if you have them, and rhythm. You may choose any of the following styles:_

_Haiku_

_Free verse_

_Rhyme scheme (abab, aabb, aabccb, etc)_

Bakura put it down. So Ryou had to write a poem? Such a girly thing to do. This just proved how stupid schools were. But Bakura was interested. What would Ryou write about hope? Hope really was a stupid thing. You can always get far with ambition and that has nothing to do with hope. Crumpling up the assignment paper Bakura threw it at a random spot in the room behind him. Ryou was really picky about keeping his room clean so that would bother him. Plus, it was his precious 'homework' assignment. Picking up the first one Bakura began to read.

_Hope_

_By: Bakura Ryou_

_Hope?_

_Who needs hope?_

_Hope only serves to hurt_

_So stop._

_Stop hoping_

_It's easy_

_You just stop caring,_

_Stop trying,_

_Eventually you stop feeling._

_But hope,_

_That annoying little bug_

_That comes back_

_Hope will see you through?_

_Feh_

_Optimists_

_Every one of you_

_Hope_

_Such an ironic statement_

_The moment you begin to hope,_

_Is the moment you begin to hurt._

_And oh boy, does it hurt._

_Epathy?_

_Empathy?_

_Apathetic._

_That's what it's called._

_When you stop caring,_

_Stop hurting,_

_Stop hoping._

_Hope_

_Like a little flame in the wind_

_So fragile_

_So easy to break_

_But what also hurts_

_Is that you're the only one_

_Who can blow out that flame_

_Fire burns when you touch it,_

_And hope sears_

_So you hope_

_-And oh, how you hope-_

_Hope_

_That you can keep that hope_

_It's a double edged sword_

_Doesn't hope heal you?_

_Rescue you?_

_But hoping hurts_

_So why hope?_

Bakura stared at the paper for a moment. What the heck? This was so out of character for Ryou. Ryou was the light: innocent, sweet, kind, everything that was supposed to come with hope. So why was he not hopeful? This was on the border of being depressed. Ryou never showed signs of being depressed did he? Bakura never paid attention to Ryou except when he was bored. Ryou was his light, his constant. Ryou was always going to be there wasn't he? But looking at the poem Bakura began to rethink. Picking up the last piece of paper Bakura wondered what could _possibly_ be on there.

It was another poem but this one lighter and the exact opposite of the other. It's almost like a counter argument. This one sounded more like Bakura thought it should. Light, optimistic, girly. Maybe a bit _too_ girly, but it sounded more like Ryou.

_Hope: Part II_

_By: Ryou Bakura_

_But hope can save us_

_Hope can free us!_

_Hope will guide us!_

_Hope is everywhere you look_

_Hope will always be there_

_If you let it in_

_Because hope will help you_

_Hope will heal you_

_If you let it._

_Hope is a guiding flame;_

_Not a harmful one._

_Hope is a light in the dark_

_Whereas dark is nothing_

_And sometimes,_

_Hope is all you have._

_Do you really want to let go?_

Can_ you really let go?_

_Hope is always there_

_Sometimes you close the door_

_But it will always find a window_

_Because hope never leaves_

_It just gets overshadowed_

_By the dark,_

_By devastation,_

_By turning away from it._

_Isn't that it?_

_Isn't it that you always want hope?_

_You're searching,_

_But scared._

_Scared it might not be there_

_But it will_

_You just have to look._

_Darkness covers,_

_Darkness dulls,_

_Darkness lies._

_But hope_

_Hope shows the truth_

_It can't lie._

_It burns away the dark_

_That settles into the cracks_

_Hope will always come to you_

_Hope_

_Dreams_

_Ambitions_

_Goals_

_They all stem from hope_

_So hope_

_Because hope_

_May be all you have_

Bakura frowned. He didn't like the second poem at all. It was supposed to hopeful he supposed but it didn't come out that way. It was like some pathetic attempt at being hopeful. Bakura frowned. He wasn't used to all this mushy stuff and he didn't know what to think. None of it rhymed and it didn't even look like a real poem but reading it, what else could it be? Bakura didn't like how Ryou kept referring to the 'dark' so badly. Did that mean he didn't like Bakura? Were all those words about darkness actually about him? Bakura didn't like the poems at all and decided to let his hikari know it.

It was just in time because that's when Ryou stepped into the room with a towel covering his waist. Bakura would've taken the chance to eye his host who he found quite sexy in his own way but was too annoyed at not understanding the poems.

Ryou stood in the doorway cutely for a moment. His eyes were wide as they landed on Bakura at the desk and the poems in his hands. A bead of water fell from one of Ryou's bangs and dripped down his delicately sculpted chest. Bakura mentally shook himself. He could ogle his hikari privately later.

"What are these?" Bakura asked. Ryou just looked on for a moment before he seemingly found his voice.

"It's my homework."

"I know it's your homework Yandonoushi. What _is_ it?" Bakura tried again.

"It's a poem on hope for my English class."

Bakura narrowed his eyes. Ryou was avoiding something. "Yes, it is. So why does it sound so depressed? Isn't hope supposed to be one of those happy things that you humans cling to?"

"Well it's how I feel about hope."

"How is this how you feel about hope? It's confusing. It talks about how hope hurts, and then how it can save you, then it talks badly about the dark" Bakura made sure to emphasize 'dark' and narrow his eyes so Ryou would understand what he was thinking. "and then it says hope is all you have. It. Makes. No. Sense."

Ryou looked around shyly like he didn't want to talk about it. "I don't really know… I was just writing some random thoughts down. It was nothing definite…"

"Ryou, is there something wrong?" Ryou had been looking away but jerked his head back when Bakura asked that. Did Ryou think Bakura was incapable of being nice? Stupid mortals, always judging. "Well? Are you going to answer me?"

Ryou stammered over his worlds a bit before he got them out. "N-n-no. I- I'm fine Yami. I- I've just been a little down lately…"

"About what?"

"Well, it's around the time that my mother died and my sister. My dad never really contacts me." Understatement of the year. "I don't really feel close to anyone at school. And…" Ryou trailed off as if he was about to say something he shouldn't.

"And?" Bakura prompted.

"And that's it." Ryou said. Bakura narrowed his eyes. There was something else Ryou had wanted to say.

He glared at Ryou for a minute before he finally got a reaction. Ryou seemed to cringe away from Bakura as he continued. "And, I don't really feel… welcome, at home. I feel like I'm just in your way and that you don't care…" So that was it? Mortals really are pathetic. Writing such a lame poem over something so stupid. Bakura would ask more about the poem later but for now, focus on Ryou.

"You feel that I don't want you around?" Ryou looked away and nodded. Bakura stood up and went over to his hikari. "You know that's not true right?" Ryou snapped his head up to his yami. Bakura rolled his eyes. "I like having you around. You're my hikari, my light in the dark. I spent 5,000 years searching for nothing in the darkness only to find you at the end of my journey. Why would I ever not want you around?"

Ryou seemed shocked about the revelations. Apparently he hadn't even thought of that. So Bakura was really surprised when Ryou hugged him around the waist. "Would that make me your hope?"

Bakura was taken aback by this statement, but turned his head away. "Hope is a flimsy piece of make-believe for fools to cling to. _You_ are not make-believe. Now don't ever compare yourself to some figment of imagination again. And if something is bothering you're required to tell me. This… _depression_ is not allowed to continue.

Bakura could feel Ryou's head moving up and down in a nod on his chest and took a moment to savor his hikari wrapped around him before pushing him off lightly. "Now get rid of this disgusting filth from my sight. You're clearly not a poet at all; it doesn't even rhyme at all."

Ryou smiled lightly before packing his homework into his bag as Bakura stalked out to leave for the night. He'd go to a bar, gamble a bit. That was one of the best things about this day and age- all the easy ways to swindle people. Plus, he could get something for his hikari that wasn't stolen. He'd like that.

As Bakura briefly paused under a street light he contemplated the poems again. Ryou was clearly depressed and the yami wondered if he hadn't been paying enough attention. Well that could be fixed. He could never let his hikari down. What Bakura found at the end of that sea of darkness was not hope (although fools may call it such), it was light. A light he could hold and touch and would never waver – not after he finally found it.

Hope was a foolish concept he reiterated as he started off back down the back roads to shady money pools. He'd need to keep a much closer eye on Ryou if he were contemplating such things as hope to save him. And perhaps next time his hikari flung himself at him, he could move it in a much more pleasurable direction than simple gratitude.

Bakura smirked and stalked into the dark.

In all truth, there's a lot more to be said about everything in the poem and in the story in general but I also think it's important to leave it be.

The poems were actually something I wrote for myself but analyzing them there was just so much to be said. Ryou is a character I can often relate to so I used him as a template to put it out there.

The last few paragraphs were added a long time (like more than a year) after the rest of it was written so I fear the cadence isn't quite right. Another huge problem with finishing this is that I'm no longer depressed. I can't feel it like I'd need to to write this. I believe it's a cohesive piece as is, but I wanted to really get more into the poems and describe a few problems of Ryou's.

*Problems I often apply to Ryou are not my problems but I see many parallels that allow me to relate to situations I can see him in.

I hope you enjoyed or were at least not too depressed by it and just a bit… how was my poetry?


End file.
